Barracudas, ABL are back

Jason Thomas

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

After months of inactivity and allegations of unpaid salaries, the Asean Basketball League (ABL) yesterday announced it will launch its second season in October.

The new campaign will once again feature six teams, with a new look Thailand team in the form of the Thailand Cobras replacing last season's Thailand Tigers a side that have been mired in controversy after it was revealed that their players have not been paid since March.

The Brunei Barracudas will be back flying the flag for the Sultanate, and though team owner Nadzaty Azma Azeez and manager Benny Ang were not available for comment, the former was at yesterday's Press conference in Jakarta held to announce the official launch of the second season.

The four other teams in the league are champions Philippine Patriots, finalists Satria Muda Britama (Indonesia) and losing semi-finalists KL Dragons (Malaysia) and Singapore Slingers.

The Cobras and the Dragons kick off the 2010-11 season with a game on Oct 2 in Bangkok, with the playoff finals scheduled to begin in February 2011 and culminate in the finals at the end of February 2011.

The format will be maintained from last season which will be in the form of triple home and away for the league stages with a best of three series for the playoffs including the finals.

The Patriots swept Satria Muda in the best-of-five final to win the title last season.

According to The Jakarta Globe, ABL founder Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes said there had been plans to add three more teams to the league for the 2010-11 season one each from Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

However, officials were unable to reach an agreement in time for the season opener. Read More…

Source: The Brunei Times